Shady Articulation
by AzerBlazer
Summary: AU. Jim has been raised by his father, changing everything and yet nothing at all. Psychologists' only worries, however, is that his father has been dead since his birth.Eventual K/S.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **Shady Articulation

**Fandom:** Star Trek 2009

**Pairing:** Eventual Spock/Kirk

**Summary: **AU. Jim has been raised by his father, changing everything and yet nothing at all. Psychologists' only worries, however, is that his father has been dead since his birth. Eventual K/S.

**Warnings:** Rated M, like most of my things for eventual violence, language, and other things not yet thought of. You've been warned, but you can take it right?

**oOo**

Jimmy is six when he starts to realize that not everyone can see the man who watches over him. He is old, like his mother, and has hair like Jimmy and eyes like warm oceans. When he smiles, small wrinkles appear on his face but instead of making him look older, they soften his face and Jimmy can't help but smile back. Especially since his mother doesn't smile often, and can't be in the same room as him for more than five hours at a time.

When she leaves, the man frowns and has a sad tilt to his lips, the lines on his forehead making him seem like an old, old man. The man is in full color, yellow shirt and crisp black slacks; healthy tan skin and shiny dark shoes. But whenever he tries to reach for him, Jimmy's hand passes right through. Even as this limits their interaction, the man still reads him books that Jimmy holds and turns the pages for, and shows him how to tie his shoelaces, and to count to 100 and back.

When Jimmy grows tired of studying the numbers as he knows them by heart now, the man stops and begins to teach him a shortcut called multiplication and goes up from there. The man has always been there and ready with information, advice and praises and Jimmy is content.

Until he stumbles on a list of mental disorders while looking through his PADD and begins to doubt himself and to eye the man wearily. In the dark of the night, under his covers Jimmy wonders to himself if he is crazy to see the man sitting on his chair and who floats sometimes when he wants to. He has read of bad things that happen to crazy people; how they're locked away in a room like prisoners.

He doesn't want to live away from his mother. The distant and sad, yet caring figure who is only labeled as 'mother'; or his brother who is both a manly idol and someone who understands why throwing mud at each other is _essential_ for a kid. And he doesn't know if the man would follow him into the dark confines of a "psychiatric ward".

When his silence reaches three days the man seems sad to see him ignore the elder. Finally, he breaks and as Sam had gone to a friend's house and his mother went out to shop for groceries he tells the man to sit down very seriously on the couch. With sadness and yet amusement the man follows his orders. Jimmy places his hand centimeters above the man's knee, and very gravely tells him that he might be a figment of the six year old's imagination and could he offer the man a tissue?

After the man almost chokes on his laughter and Jimmy has thrown several cushions at -and _through_- him in a fit of righteous pique. He concentrates on his hand and then pats Jimmy on his head and this time Jimmy can feel fingers carding warmly through his head and feels his eyes sting in happiness. The man explains that he isn't crazy, but special. His eyes are special in that he can see people who aren't there. _He _is special, not insane.

Smiling, Jimmy leans into the physical touch and resolves to never ignore the man who has become so much more than a friend. As he feels the fingers fade, the man looks sick and pale and slightly see through, Jimmy panics and although the touch was nice it wasn't worth it if it made the man so fatigued.

When he is six and ten months, the man refers to his mother as "Winona" and Jim is eager to say it over and over again. To have more information on his parent, a private and strong woman who he looked up to; and her first name that had eluded him for his 6 years of existence now seems like a sweet secret on his mouth. The man laughs at his joy and in childish glee offers to teach him more.

So Jimmy is tasked to find his old chess set in the attic, where dust motes float and the heat seems to radiate from everywhere. The man directs him to a box labeled in his mother's scrawl, and almost ripping it open when he stops cold. There at the very top, is a picture of the man, in a black and white suit holding his mother in a pretty white wedding dress. He takes it out carefully and holds it up so the light hits it and Jimmy can see how younger the man is. Some wrinkles just aren't there when he smiles for the holopic.

The sound of glass shattering behind him makes him jump and whirl around, and he sees Winona on the floor with a glass of juice shattered and splattered all over the floor. She has a sad faraway look in her eyes like she did when he was younger and she's mumbling a name over and over again, dry sobs tearing through her and scaring Jimmy.

He puts the picture back and slowly approaches her, hearing the name "George, oh George!" over and over again. It's fairly obvious that its the name of the man, and also the name of his father that everyone praised when he went to those memorials on his birthday. He turns to the man and forgets the silent rule that he can't talk to things others can't see; asking him "Are you my father?"

The man, George, nods and kneels next to a gaping Winona, trying to futilely hug her.

"J-jimmy...are you talking to your imaginary friend again?" Her tone has a slight hysterical edge to it and Jimmy frowns remembering the medical text of disorders.

Gently tapping her cheek in soft chastisement, he says solemnly like George had when he'd explained why calling his brother an "Asshole" wasn't proper, "Winona, don't be silly. He's real and there but _you_ can't see him. He's been here all my life."

There is silence when Winona hiccups as tears stream down and she tries to lift herself to her knees. She accepts with a watery "Of course dear."

Jimmy sighs crossly, and shift his attention to her left, "George, she won't believe me." She can only stare as her son conversed with what he proposed to be the ghost of his deceased father. "What's his full name?." Then he mouths something silently and finally turns to her and parrots. talker

"He says to tell you that to prove that I'm not _insane_," he spits out the word with obvious vehemence, "The best man at your wedding, is Christopher Pike who you've been kind of ignoring for the past six years which is kinda rude y'know? But anyway! You both met Chris at the time that he was having a fight with some guy named Jonathan Archer who later became your kind of close friends."

Jimmy took a breath and nodded in the self assured way of George when he felt that his point had better been understood or by god he'd get it through with a ball peen hammer. Winona on the other hand had no way to prove that Jimmy had gotten his information through other non-supernatural means. She settled her face in her hands, her head suddenly to heavy with an overload of info. If, on the slim chance, Jimmy wasn't lying and George had been there all this time seeing how badly she failed in her parenting skills towards Jimmy then it might have been better to live in ignorance.

Distantly, she could hear her son exclaiming how George was trying to hug her and that it was "kinda creepy how your hand just went through her shoulder, could you not do that again?" She snorted wetly, and opened her eyes, hoping perhaps childishly that she would see a transparent ghost white apparition of her husband.

She saw nothing and closed her eyes once more, hope gone.

Winona almost jumped when a small but startlingly strong hand grasped hers and blue eyes peered into her face. The expression was almost eerie in its resemblance to many of her Captain's while working in Starfleet. It was an expression that commanded immediate obedience no matter how ridiculous the order seemed. And suddenly his eyes seemed to reflect more light than was possible with the small attic window.

It was as if many sheets of white were lifting until what was a faint blur across her vision solidified into the outline of her husband. The lines were a bit blurry, the features nonexistent save for smudges of shadows and overall he had the disconcerting look of always in movement, even while kneeling in front of her holding her face gently in his tan hands. But it was indisputably her George.

Something broke softly in her and she could only hear the faint whisper as it drifted to her in his voice, "_Live, my love, for me._" before he was gone in the blink of an eye and Jimmy collapsed unconscious against her.

**oOo**

When Jimmy came to once more, it was dark out and his room was illuminated by his lamp and his father's belongings were scattered around his room, an old fashioned chess set with two drawers built into the deep rich wood lay besides him on his bed. Bone deep weariness settled into him so he couldn't even think to move out of bed to use the bathroom.

His door opened and Winona came in, a rare smile on her face, as an equally cheery George came in behind her. She carried a bowl of soup and something steaming in a mug. Setting it down on his bedside table, she checked his temperature and sat down on his bed.

There was a period of unhurried comfortable silence, and Jimmy watched as George surveyed the room with a pleased nod. He yawned, amazed that he could even be sleepy after just waking up. The sound seemed to prompt Winona into action as she leaned over and cradled his face in her hands like his father had done in the attic. She searched his face for something before she smiled and kissed his forehead.

"I don't know if you will ever understand what you have done for me my son. But thank you anyway."

Jimmy swallowed at the amount of love and tenderness and _fresh_, _crisp_ emotions that were present in her voice. She wasn't distant like always, as if thinking of someone else, but it showed that she was _here_, with nothing but him on her mind and in her heart.

He smiled shakily and hugged her, overcome with joy as she hugged back just as strongly. Besides the window, George smiled to himself as he saw his wife and son come together in more ways than one.


	2. Chapter 2

**Title: **Shady Articulation

**Fandom:** Star Trek 2009

**Pairing:** Eventual Spock/Kirk

**Summary: **AU. Jim has been raised by his father, changing everything and yet nothing at all. Psychologists' only worries, however, is that his father has been dead since his birth. Eventual K/S.

**Warnings:** Rated M, like most of my things for eventual violence, language, and other things not yet thought of. You've been warned, but you can take it right? Beware of my twisting of everything, thank you.

**A/N: **Please excuse this rapid update, it will by no means become common occurrence. I'm just eager to get this out of my system before I lose it. :) On another note, I particular love this weird take on the dynamics between Frank and everyone else. I don't think it'll be a regular thing in my works, Frank is just too easy of a target to be a douchebag to Jim. Here they're more...Passive-Aggressive I guess.

**oOo**

When Jim is ten his mother rents Sam's old room out to her semi-not-boyfriend, semi-companion; who after seven months later becomes his official stepfather. Frank's relationship with both of them is weird in the most awkward way possible. His wife had died when he came to live in their house and Winona helped him through the grief. Point A led to point C and at age ten Jim's kind of not as dumb as he could be, not with two Starfleet officers as parents who are more than willing to make up for lost time (Winona) and who would do anything to help him live his life as he wished (George). And although he could see the sense in the two lonely people coming together, Jim fervently hopes that there is no physical aspect to the relationship because not only would it kind of scar him, there was still the issue of his father living (figuratively) with them still.

The relationship between Frank and Jim is best summed up with the phrase, "Passive-Aggressive Fisticuffs" which Jim came up with himself, much to his father's amusement. When Winona was dirtside, as she had finally returned to active duty, they were fairly passive in her presence since they both had no doubt that she would wipe the floor with both of them and George and Sam (who was also 'George' in a twist of irony) would only laugh at their bruised asses. But when the mother was away for months at a time, it was a free for all.

At first it was only verbal, pointed spears that made Sam feel like he was grades behind his younger brother in terms of vocabulary and wit; and all the while George seemed to be talking to other ghosts who could do nothing with their time but speculate of the future, he decided to teach his son self defense earlier than he had anticipated. And so, Jim and Frank snarked at each other, trying to one up on another every time. It was fun and harrowing and it made Jim feel like he was walking the edge; both his parents and stepfather clearly saw how he thrived in that situation, much to their dismay.

When his mother learned of his self defense lessons, she practiced with him over video feed as she was also brushing up on mandatory classes considering her time off duty. It was pretty much the sum of their entire relationship. Not exactly mother to son, but more like bosom buddies. A word which Jim used whenever humanly possible. There was a space separating them, but a bridge was there in place. They could cross it at any point they wished, but they were comfortable like this. Jim stopped trying to earn more of his mother's love as he had it already, and Winona brought in Sam and told them both stories of her past, their father, and Starfleet.

Pretty soon after a year of Frank becoming his stepfather, they'd been snapping insults at each other like usual, just to fill the silence that seemed deafening as Sam was gone for eleven months to some boarding school and Winona was in space. For every "Touché." the other uttered, they took a shot of liquor. After what seemed to be the twentieth shot (his father would later tell him it was the 25th ), Jim said something about his mother; which would just prompt a scowl sober but after so much alcohol it only resulted in his chest having a spectacular bruise that completely blindsided him.

For a second Frank kept his hand outstretched with a blank look on his face; and then he exploded into action.

"Shit! Jim, Jimmy! Damn it, are you okay?" He picked the stunned preteen up lightly and set off for the bathroom where their medkit was located. Jim felt anger, spurred on by the vaguely murderous look his father had sported as the man's fists had connected with his chest; but when Frank seemed to sober up completely without the use of a hypo he let it go as best he could, seeing it wasn't intentional.

It helped that the very real fear in Frank's eyes as he stared at the receding bruise after he had applied a hypo. Also the right hook that caught him right in the arm. That was probably therapeutic or something, since Jim found himself smiling at Frank's stunned face and applied a similar hypo to the man.

**oOo**

After that Frank bought them both a pair of boxing gloves and padded gear, Jim drew a box in the dirt of their backyard and every other day they would both prep the medkit and take it outside like real men. At first, Frank had held back, mainly blocking and lowering his strength considerably. Three days into their little fights, he found himself awake and in the sofa, with a vaguely worried Jim looking up at him and nodding to something only he could hear, administering hypos and waving his finger around until Frank could follow it.

Jim was small, but vicious and it took all of Frank's skill in brawling to keep up with the brat. He wasn't as strong as he could be for his age, but he wore him down with dogged determination. It became worse as Jim entered middle school, fury and anger being poured into every punch and kick and even a headbutt on a memorable occasion. Sam and Winona, when they were there at the same time, which Winona tried her hardest to be (which would be like amazing on a scale to one to ten for _regular_ people); cheered and made sympathetic sounds on the sidelines. Jim thought it to be kind of awesome, seeing as if they were a normal family they would be worried about the adolescent younger son effectively brawling with the much older stepfather.

But that was it, they weren't a normal family. They were more like people who happened to live under the same roof; friends. And as friends they had limits and things they could get away with or wouldn't touch under any circumstance. Their need for family had been fulfilled in other ways. Jim had his father, who tried to offer advice but began to let Jim do his thing more and more, make his own mistakes and choices (which Jim steadfastly did not feel warm and fuzzy over), Sam was effectively a mama's boy who was growing into a sort of fondness only seen in single men over their greatly aged mother and/or grandma. Winona once had George and Sam and Jim in the same moment until George sacrificed himself, she'd tasted that and had been man (woman) enough to walk away and let go of the weeping widow; devoting herself to kick ass 'fleet officer to stay strong for her surviving children. Frank had his dearly departed wife and now all he needed was to kill time until he died an old man and followed her.

Which was how they could have dinner and after Jim stated conversationally over his steak for Frank to "go fuck himself" to which Frank replied, "You'd probably beat me to it." When Sam asked how the business was for Frank and managed to not laugh as Frank began to recall the old lady who kept coming in with her car, stating that there was a noise in it. For the fifth time this week, and it was only Wednesday for God's sake!

Winona on the other hand began to regale Jim with the latest news on Chris' captaincy and how Admiral Archer seemed to be only talking to his dogs until Pike returned from halfway across the galaxy. Jim scrunched his nose and commented on how difficult and confusing seemingly unrequited old man love could be. His father choked on nothing (seriously, he could hold his non-existent breath for_ever_ much to Jim's envy) at that and Jim sent him a worried glance, much to Winona's amusement.

Jim related to her how his ghost father had almost died again, while Sam and Frank politely ignored it. The one time Jim had tried to explain to Sam he had barely gotten five words together before his elder brother told him to _**stop**__. Normal people can't take this kind of stuff in stride okay Jim? Oh and say hi to dad for me will you? _

Then he boarded his shuttle for his first day of boarding school. His brother was the best, Jim boasted to George.

He had to agree.

Everything was great, he found a (semi)healthy outlet to express his love to Frank while giving the man a black eye and vice-versa. His mother sent pictures of recent planets and species they visited and his brother sent a lengthy message every two weeks mostly asking about homework without any speck of shame for exploiting his genius younger sibling. Jim was okay with that, they really had nothing to talk about at length unless they lived together anyway.

He played chess with his father every every evening after dinner. Ever since he'd woken up with his father's chess board next to him in bed and Winona's approval, he'd played. The antique chess board had real glass pieces of both chess and checkers. Jim was almost afraid to touch them for long and twice every month wiped all the clear and clouded pieces almost obsessively. He'd started with checkers and ended playing chess against everyone in the family, Frank decided on checkers though, semi-joking he was normal enough to not have several strategies memorized chess for just such an occasion. Unless he was playing his father, Jim never used the chessboard. Instead, he'd use a 3D chessboard instead.

Everything should be great, except...

School. Jim would have begged off public school if he had known by the age of 6 that he could be home-schooled. Too late now, he started it, and by his father's chess set he was going to finish it! No matter that kid's hated him for being too smart, the teacher's both hated and loved him for being a smartass and 'George Kirk's boy'.

Everywhere, he was praised for being George Kirk's kid. He was fucking("don't look at me like that dad.") sick of it. Every time he almost skipped a grade, (and the one time he did) all the adult's commented on how just like George he was! It prompted him to hack into his father's school records only to see that he did average. Pretty high compared to others, but just average when put next to his own son's scores.

His father, at first tried to calm him down with platitudes like "They're just trying to make you feel closer to me, Jimmy."

"George," It fascinated the ghost how easily Jim slid from 'Dad' to 'George' and back, "I've had your leg go through my head once, I don't see how we could be any closer if we tried!"

Winona, who he had been venting to over video feed cackled at that. Damn her.

Although by the time Jim was 12, even George was scowling at the random people who expressed their dismay at how his now deviant behavior would surely shame his father. Jim tried his hardest to do everything George hadn't done, from vandalism to brawls with other kids. George knew that Jim needed to stretch out of the all encompassing shadow that his death put upon his youngest son. It was the first time he ever regretted his decision, if only for a moment. He found it ironic though. None but his son could see him, and everyone could only see George when they looked at Jim. Jim had laughed at that while bandaging his ribs and knuckles from a brawl with the local school yard bully.

It all came to a head one morning when Jim took his father's old Corvette for a joy ride. Halfway through it, Frank called and ranted at him for a few minutes until Jim laughed and cut off the connection. The man was too prone to worrying, and where Winona would laugh and offer advice on next time, Frank would be the one already anticipating the lawsuits and ramifications. Jim swore he'd get gray hair because of it.

Miles later, with one cop on his tail his father began to worry as something tickled his memory. He had only time for a rushed, "Wait! Jim-" before the gorge was upon them and Jim's eyes widened almost comically and he tried to jump for it, so unbelievably glad that he didn't put a seat belt on. He scrabbled for purchase even as the horrid screeching of metal crumpling into the rock wall assaulted his ears.

Feeling his nails tear he had only time to wonder if he'd become a ghost as well before something gripped the back of his shirt and kept him there for a minute, so that his momentum stopped trying to throw him over the edge. Looking up he saw his father straining (which was weird with the whole dead can't get tired thing) and trying to keep a solid grip on him. Literally. He had only time wriggle his upper body up on the edge before huffing a laugh at the cop mere feet in front of him.

"What is your name citizen?"

It was for classification purposes, Jim knew, a mark on his record showing how he was so different than his father, and proud.

"James Tiberius Kirk."

And as they filed him into the holding cell, dusty and tired, his father had regenerated his "ghost energy" and wore a proud smile which made Jim think that maybe they _were_ similar in some daredevil way. But that was a whole can of worms he wouldn't be the one to open.

"You are so grounded young man."

None of the police officers could fathom why the Kirk kid began laughing like crazy.


	3. Chapter 3

**Title: **Shady Articulation

**Fandom:** Star Trek 2009

**Pairing:** Eventual Spock/Kirk

**Summary: **AU. Jim has been raised by his father, changing everything and yet nothing at all. Psychologists' only worries, however, is that his father has been dead since his birth. Eventual K/S.

**Warnings:** Rated M, like most of my things for eventual violence, language, and other things not yet thought of. You've been warned, but you can take it right?

**Author's note: **Sorry about the POV that switches a lot, and Thank you to everyone who favorited and/or story alerted this fic :) And a special thanks to JayJay133 for actually taking the time to review, I hope you like it!

**oOo**

Frank scowled, what the hell was this? Some big part of him was tempted to just walk away from this whole mess before he developed an ulcer. But a small part was sick of seeing the bruises and the teachers who lamented over Jim's "problems".

If he had more of Winona's, or even _Jim's_, nerve he'd tell them off to their faces.

But he didn't so all he could do was scowl at Jim until they left and then offer him a beer in silent congratulations. They'd never discussed it of course, everyone knew that they hated each other. They saw the bruises on Jim, and the bites on his arms at work (damn kid was wild). An investigation was put forth, but were brought up short by the fact that Jim invited them to see one of these "epic fisticuffs".

Then they'd tried to approach Winona, only to get laughed at and cut down in less than three minutes. To this day, they replayed that holovid over and over just to almost bust a gut laughing.

But, he looked down at the PADD in his hand, this is something else. He'd never know, never _want _to know what was going through the brat's head when he pulled an enormously stupid stunt. Sure it was kind of hard living with all these geniuses when he was just a regular guy trying to get by. The woman was a "tough as nails bitch" in the memorable words of both her sons. Sam, good old Sam who tried to tone down the weirdness for his sanity; was only sixteen or so and was at some boarding school in Russia for geniuses. He knew less than the other two member's of the family about the blond brat who could join his brother at that boarding school if he only applied himself; but Frank could hazard a guess, a damn good one. His stepson (more like the kid he coincidentally lives with) is a modern fucking ghost whisperer. Its easier to swallow that than thinking he's suicidal.

When he is allowed to visit Jim (Winona is currently attempting to gently bully her captain into stopping by earth to personally ream into the arresting officers, Frank brought his camera just in case) he stares at the scruffy image across the clear glass. Christ, they even had cuffs on the kid, his father must be having a blast with this. He is personally very glad he can't hear the late Kirk.

"What would your father say about all this, Jim?"

One of the officers who was near enough gave him what seemed to be a sympathetic shake of the head. Frank fought the urge to grimace, the question was in no way rhetoric. Jim gazed at him knowingly before cocking his head slightly without breaking eye contact.

"He says to invest in an auto navigational unit for the dashboard of my next car."

Frank has to fight very hard to not crack a smile at that, but turns to cough suspiciously. After a period of customary silence he reaches for the PADD he'd been looking at previously. "You've got a court hearing on the fifth. They sent me a list with various juvenile detention centers here in Iowa." The grimace on Jim's face concisely represents his feelings on the matter, " or to some recreational thing for troubled children like you on a beginning colony called Tarsus IV."

At the kid's curious look he expounds on the last choice. "You'd basically be a worker for their fledgling farms for a year or so. You get work hours and we'd have to pay for your room and food, but you get a small pay for what work you do." One look at Jim's burning eyes and he knows what order form he needs to have filled out by the end of the day if not sooner.

He groans, "Jimmy, can't you just go to the little kid's jail? It's half the paperwork!"

"Fuck you Frank, I'll find some way to shut down all the appliances and technology in the house if you do."

The little shit, Frank had no doubt he'd do it too.

**oOo**

When all is said and done with, the Iowa courts have absolutely no desire to ever see Winona Kirk grace their halls again. Frank sends a copy of the trial to Sam, who immediately send back a solid five minutes of his chair, with him laughing crazily from the floor. And Jim begins to pack his things in a duffel bag, Frank excusing himself as Winona hands the third illegal weapon (a small switchblade that's dulled so it doesn't glint) to Jim and offers him a bag that will smuggle the metal without problem through a scanner. He can't testify if he wasn't there.

But he understands her logic, this was a small town and Jim got into a ridiculous number of fights. Just imagining a new colony with various other brat offenders makes him shiver in sympathy. The only reason Jim will be keeping the weapons is that Winona has a sister that lives there, and they offered to house Jim and make sure he attended the facility daily. Jim would need everyone he can get to back him up without Winona and Frank's presence.

Besides, his father would be advising him along the way, there was not much a Starfleet officer couldn't overcome on a small colony like Tarsus.

**oOo**

All throughout the shuttle ride he is filled with a buzzing energy even as he's surrounded by surly faced kids who don't look forward to it at all. His father is at his side and pointing out all the parts of a ship to his son, eager and perhaps even nervous as he shares what basically was his life dream. Hoping it will impress Jim, and god yes he was pathetic and fatherly and George was alright with that; wondered if all father's felt like this. Sam hadn't expressed much interest, but that was okay because the kid was _three_ when George took him on a tour of a docked ship.

But George was with Jim for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week since he was born. They'd long passed any natural barriers that normal father and sons had. As Jimmy grew older, he'd try his best to spend some time away from the boy, the last thing he wanted to become for his son was a crutch. No, George saw how good his boy was with machinery; his interest in how things were put together, the mechanics, mathematics and process of making something work for him. He saw engineer reds in his son's future, maybe Chief Engineer if he actually got his attention span to last longer than minutes.

**oOo**

The first few weeks are hard, he sees how his son is aching for the rush of adrenaline, the painful clarity that comes from knowing that its only a couple nanoseconds that are between having your nose broken or landing a good punch in. He swings back and forth between a calm, lazy contentment and irritated, resentment that snaps at his relatives and others around him. It was almost painful to watch his son act like he was going through a drug withdrawal.

But the little boy from two houses down keeps coming back again and again even though Jim had acted less than cordially on one of his bad days. And the other, older Tom who was little Kevin's neighbor accompanied the boys. He had been wary of Jim's temper, but his own cool and placid temperament seemed to trigger something in Jim; a reflex which George was positive, had something to do with the way his son seemed to rise to challenges faster then one could say "Betcha can't".

Having someone roughly his age and not of his blood seemed to ease something in Jim. Tom and Kevin didn't compare him to his father, or really care about how he was going to what amounted to juvie around here. All they really cared is how smart he was, and what great adventures the three of them would get into. Tom was smart, but in a different way. He knew, not mathematics and how to put together a machine, but about their surroundings. Things Jim never really took into account because it was never really relevant to him in his mind. Which explained how he almost accidentally drove a car off a cliff he hadn't known was there.

But Tom was always to the first to know the general happenings in the small rural village they lived in. He broke it down for Jim and Kevin, told them of the woods, the gossip, which people they should steer clear of and which they could get along with well. Tom was, Jim sometimes waxed poetics at his amused father, the broad sweeping of a broom. Taking care to equally brush every inch of surface.

George had banned his son from ever writing any poetry. His metaphors were horrible and he should brush up on Shakespeare and everyone who came after, before and during the Bard's time.

But he couldn't deny the truth in his son's words; especially since he thought Jim was like a laser, burning through layers of impenetrable steel with a single minded determination that sometimes scared the hell out of him. But in a nervous parental way, he supposed. He had no desire to watch his son burn himself out.

And little Kevin who was only 7 years old, and had never really had older friends like Jim and Tom who impressed his classmates when they picked him up once from school. They didn't treat him like a young nuisance either like his other friend's siblings. And his boundless energy and enthusiasm softened up something in Jim, who realized sadly that he had never been as _innocent_ and _naïve _as the child before him.

George found himself slowly lessening the lessons that only a paranoid 'fleet officer who had seen less than lovely things that could happen to his son, could give. Instead of practicing basic self defense with his father, George encouraged him to go and enjoy his free time away from the recreational facility with Kevin and Tom who explored the woods with unending fascination over the wildlife on what was pretty much an alien planet.

Although he does casually comment that a certain famous linguist lives near Kevin's house as well, and the three boys inevitably end up learning more than they bargained for, and while Tom and Kevin are dizzy with all the information, Jim thrives in the pressure being put upon him once more and flies through the teachings like he had wings.

George could not be prouder, and he says his greeting to both his son and wife (who call once every two weeks and four respectively, depending on if Winona is near the planet.) through Jim. And Winona's sister and husband are wonderful people who have unending patience when it comes to his blond bombshell of a son. And while his son played with other children for once, he was free to roam around Tarsus and talk with other spirits who hung around; and he found himself learning as well.


End file.
